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by AutisticWriter



Series: Asexual Awareness Week 2017 [7]
Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Asexual Awareness Week, Asexual Character, Asexuality, Cooking, F/F, Falling In Love, Fluff, Friendship, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Holding Hands, Implied Acephobia, Internalized Homophobia, Lesbian Character, Nonbinary Character, Nonbinary Doctor, One Shot, Pancakes, Panromantic Asexual Ace McShane, Parental Seventh Doctor, Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-15
Updated: 2017-11-15
Packaged: 2019-02-02 22:37:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12735711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AutisticWriter/pseuds/AutisticWriter
Summary: The Doctor and Ace are joined in the TARDIS by a new companion, one who clearly has feelings for Ace. And Ace clearly reciprocates her feelings. The Doctor just wishes that the pair would just ask each other out already and stop using them as some sort of agony aunt





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What is it with the Doctor and collecting travelling companions? As has happened several times before, it looks like they won’t be leaving 1960s Earth without another addition to the TARDIS crew. And they have to wonder just how crowded the TARDIS will have to get before they start turning people away; although, given how big the TARDIS is, they could easily fit hundreds of people in here if they wish. And given how awful they are at saying no, that might happen one day.

The soon to be new companion this time is Lottie, a seventeen year old orphan from 1967 London. Lottie was on the streets when she met the Doctor and Ace, and proved her skills by rescuing Ace from an attempted mugging. And, since that moment, the two girls have been the best of friends. And it would probably break Ace’s heart just as much as Lottie’s if the Doctor didn’t let her come with them.

But that isn’t going to happen. Ace has her arm around Lottie as they walk back to where the TARDIS is hidden, as though helping Lottie stay warm. Lottie is already wearing the Doctor’s jacket, but her flimsy old dress isn’t enough to stay warm on a crisp December day like this.

“So you do understand what it means to come with us, don’t you, Lottie?” the Doctor says, just wanting to make sure.

Lottie nods. “Yes, I know we’ll leave here for good. But I don’t care. I hate it here. Anywhere would be better than living on the streets. And…” her very pale face starts to go red. “And I like you two. You’re nice. I want to come with you.”

Ace squeezes her shoulder, grinning. “You’ll love it in the TARDIS. It’s got so many wicked things and the Professor never fails to take us somewhere exciting. It’ll be so much fun.”

Lottie looks at the Doctor and then smiles. “That sounds wonderful. I’d love to come travelling with you… Professor? I thought you were the Doctor?”

The Doctor smiles. “I am. Ace insists on calling me that.”

Ace smiles sheepishly and Lottie giggles.

They carry on walking, cutting through a park until they reach an area of dense woodland. Lottie starts to look anxious, but then she spots the TARDIS and her eyes widen.

“What on Earth is a police box doing in here?” she says.

“Actually, that’s my TARDIS,” the Doctor says, smiling.

“Yeah,” Ace says. “It’s supposed to look like anything we want, but it broke and now always looks like this.”

Not too impressed, the Doctor gives Ace a look. She smiles innocently.

As Lottie stares at the TARDIS, the Doctor unlocks the doors and pushes them open. They gesture for her to go inside, but Lottie just stands there.

“I don’t understand,” Lottie says.

“It’s simple, really,” Ace says, offering Lottie her hand. “Come on, let’s go inside.”

The two girls holding hands, Ace leads Lottie inside the TARDIS. Even from outside, the Doctor hears Lottie’s gasp of astonishment, and they smile. They follow the girls inside, and shut the doors, watching Lottie race around the console room, studying everything with wide eyes.

“This is… amazing,” she mumbles. “I can’t believe it.”

They smile. “The TARDIS tends to have that impression on people. Now, are you ready to go?”

As Lottie nods, the Doctor flicks the switch and the TARDIS dematerialises. And that is how they and Ace gain a new companion.

\---

Within a day of Lottie travelling with them, the Doctor already knows that Lottie and Ace are in love. Although they aren’t sure if those two know their love is requited. But it is; they just need to talk about it.

And, over the course of a few days, they both decide to talk about it. But not to each other.

No, they both come to the Doctor, and they can’t help but feel flattered that they both trust them.

\---

One afternoon, the Doctor is reading on the floor of the console room when Lottie walks into the room.

“Doctor?” she asks, fiddling with the buckle on her new dress (she found it in the wardrobe room; it used to belong to Nyssa, if they remember correctly). “Can I talk to you about something?”

The Doctor looks up and smiles. “Of course you can.”

They pat the floor beside them, and Lottie sits down beside them. She clasps her hands together, her face going red.

“Well, I… I think I might be in love with Ace,” she mumbles. “And… I think I’m a lesbian, but… but I don’t know how to process that. Because… because it wasn’t a good thing in my time, and I don’t know how to stop feeling like being a lesbian is a bad thing.”

The Doctor looks at their new companion, feeling so sorry for her. They know how it feels to internalise negative attitudes, and how hard it is to let go of them (it is because of this sort of thing that it took them seven incarnations to finally accept their nonbinary gender).

“I know how you feel, Lottie,” they say. “But it is important to remember that my TARDIS isn’t London in 1967. None of those bigoted beliefs hold any weight here. This is my home and Ace’s home and now your home too, and we can feel safe here. Do you understand?”

Lottie stares at them, and then nods slowly. And then a smile starts to cross her face.

“And about Ace,” the Doctor adds, giving Lottie a gentle tap on the nose with their finger. “Well, let’s just say that I think she has similar feelings towards you.”

Lottie grins, delighted. But then she looks a bit confused. “How can you tell?”

“There are two reason, really,” they say. “The first is that I am a Time Lord—”

“A _what_?” Lottie splutters, cutting them off.

“A Time Lord,” the Doctor explains. “I am an alien. That is how I own this TARDIS, because we can travel through space and time. And it is because that I’m a Time Lord that I can read people easily. Especially humans; I can read your emotions like a book. And I know Ace likes you from the way she looks at you. She obviously loves you.”

“And what is the second reason?” Lottie asks, smiling.

“Well, literally anyone could tell that you two like each other, Time Lord or not. You aren’t exactly subtle about your love for each other,” they say, smiling too.

Lottie goes even redder, but she smiles and grasps the Doctor’s hand. She gives their hand a squeeze.

“So… do you think I have a chance?”

“Yes, I think you do,” the Doctor says.

And Lottie grins. “Thank you, Doctor.”

\---

A couple of days after their conversation with Lottie, the two teenagers are still acting strangely around each other. They obviously have yet to confess their feelings to each other. And the Doctor has to wish that they would just get on with it, because it is obvious that they both like each other. They just wish they would talk about it.

Later that day, they are visited by Ace this time as they read in the TARDIS library. She doesn’t look nearly as anxious as Lottie did, but she still isn’t her usual boisterous self.

“Can we talk, Professor?” she says.

Without saying anything, the Doctor pats the chair beside them. Ace crosses the room and sits down, staring at the seemingly endless shelves of books.

“Of course,” the Doctor says. “Does this have anything to do with Lottie, by any chance?”

Ace stares at them. “How did you know that?”

The Doctor gives her a very knowing smile. Ace grins and nudges them with her elbow.

“I will that as a yes,” they say.

Ace smiles. She knows that she and the Doctor are basically parent and daughter by now in terms of their very close friendship, and so obviously knows that she can talk to them about anything, and the Doctor is always there to listen.

She wraps her arms around herself and stares at her feet as she says, “Well, I think I fancy Lottie. But… but I’m not sure how to go about asking her. I mean, I’m panro, but I’ve only eve dated boys before. I don’t know how to ask out a girl. Especially one who’s from a time period a whole twenty years before me. I’m just… unsure.”

The Doctor says nothing as Ace speaks, simply nodding their head and listening.

“And, well, I know it’s thick of me, but I’m worried she won’t understand what being ace means. After all, not many people do. And… what if she thinks I don’t really love her because I’m asexual?”

She stares at the Doctor, her eyes wide with sudden fear. The Doctor understands why she is concerned (because acephobia is real and a problem for many asexual people in this sort of situation), but they need her to know that she doesn’t need to worry.

“I don’t think it will be a problem, Ace,” they say, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Yes, Lottie might be confused by the idea of asexuality, just as you were when you first learned about it, but she will understand.”

“But, how do you know?” Ace says.

The Doctor hesitates. They know that Lottie has been questioning her sexuality, and therefore should not be judgmental towards anyone else’s. And they know that Lottie loves Ace and her sexuality won’t be a problem to the young woman who clearly adores her. But they can’t tell Ace any of this, not without Lottie’s permission.

So they simply smile reassuringly and squeeze her shoulder as they say, “I just know. Now, I think you and Lottie need to have a chat.”

Ace smiles weakly. “Thanks, Professor.”

\---

Ace and Lottie spend most of that evening in one of the TARDIS’s many sitting rooms, talking. With their sensitive hearing, the Doctor can clearly hear snapshots of their conversation whenever they walk past the door. Throughout the evening, they hear Ace explaining asexuality (“It means you don’t like anyone in that way, but…”), Lottie talking about discovering that she is a lesbian (“…and it confused me for a while, but I eventually realised that I don’t like boys at all.), and them both finally telling the other about how they feel about them.

And when they both walk into the kitchen holding hands, the Doctor knows just how their conversation ended. They obviously accepted what each other said, and were more than happy to start dating.

They sit at the table, still holding hands, and watch the Doctor cook pancakes (a favourite treat of Ace’s). And the Doctor glances at them over their shoulder, and they are so happy for the pair when they see them smiling.

“Did you two finally talk, then?” they say, successfully flipping a pancake in the air and getting it to land back in the frying pan.

Lottie nods and Ace says, “Yeah, we did. And how did you know so much about it, anyway?”

The Doctor smiles. “Well, you know how you came to talk to be about your feelings for Lottie? Because it turns out that you aren’t the only one I talked to.”

Ace and Lottie look at each other and grin.

“What, you went to talk to the Professor too?” Ace says.

Lottie nods. “Yeah, and they were very helpful.”

Ace stares at the Doctor. They smile and tip a freshly cooked pancake onto her plate.

“Yes, they were,” she says slowly. And then she glares at the Doctor, but she is smiling. “So we both talked to you?”

They nod, turning to pour more batter into the frying pan. “Yes, you did. And I remember thinking that you might have got together several days earlier if you just talked to each other in the first place. But it’s not important now. You are together now, aren’t you?”

They both nod.

“Yes, and you’re happy now, aren’t you?”

They nod again. Ace grins.

“Thanks, Professor.”

“It was nothing, Ace,” they say. “Now eat your pancake before it gets cold.”

“Can I have another one in a minute?”

“Do I look like your chef?” they say, smiling and raising their eyebrows.

Ace points at their apron and says, “Yes, actually.”

Lottie starts laughing. She has never seen the Doctor and Ace bicker before. And they are very good at bickering, if they do say so themself.

And the Doctor smiles, glad to see that Lottie is settling in well. And they know that the TARDIS might get very crowded one of these days, but it doesn’t matter. Because every companion who stays with them is wanted and accepted and loves living here. And Lottie is definitely happy, especially now she and Ace are together.


End file.
